


Something's Missing

by scullyseviltwin



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-11-17
Updated: 2004-11-17
Packaged: 2019-05-30 22:09:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15105845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullyseviltwin/pseuds/scullyseviltwin
Summary: CJ/Danny; They banter over Gail, and get down to the heart of theirproblem... so to speak. Forgive the pun.





	Something's Missing

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Something's Missing**

**by: ScullyAsTrinity**

**Character(s):** CJ, Danny  
**Pairing(s):** CJ/Danny  
**Category(s):** Humor, Romance  
**Rating:** YTEEN  
**Summary:** They banter over Gail, and get down to the heart of their problem... so to speak. Forgive the pun  
**Spoiler:** Anything after Danny gives DJ Gail.  
**Author's Note:** To the lovely and tasty Amanda, who's urging it was that I write a CJ/Danny fic. 

"CJ! CJ! If the bill isn't being passed then why have Toby and Sam spent so much time on the-?"

"It's the White House Chris; there are other things that need to be written. Arthur!"

"Well what about the wording that the President used at the press conference? Was that meant to be directed to the CEO of GyroCom and the merger that happened last week?"

"No Arthur, when he comments on soft money, he's generally talking about soft money. The President has no comments on the

GyroCom merger as the President has no grasp of technology what so ever." She smiled and noticed the time, realizing that it was time to finish up.

The Press Corp laughed at CJ's lighthearted comment. They had come to realize that comments such as these were not to be taken seriously. Three years ago, however, one of them would most certainly be following up her reply with a question as to why exactly the President hated technology. These were moments that CJ enjoyed, when she was able to do her job well, but to have fun with it at the same time. She lived to tease her press room. She had come to think of the Press Corp as friends (friends who she could discredit and vice versa, but friends none-the-less).

"That's a full lid, have a safe and not-too-productive weekend, and remember no one reads the papers on Saturday anyway." She gathered her papers quickly, thrust her glasses onto her head, and hastily shoved the pile of papers into Carol's hands. The reporters laughed once more.

"Thank you CJ!" They all called, putting their notes hastily away, preparing to leave.

As per usual CJ fell into routine and fell in step directly behind Carol as they both made their way back to CJ's office. Carol exchanged a few words with her and veered off to speak to Margaret.

She thought about the events of the past few days. The week had run surprisingly smooth, except for Tuesday when a lost memo had sent the entire West Wing into a fit of 'It-Wasn't-Me's.' The memo was successfully recovered by Bonnie, who had taken initiative and cleaned up Sam's desk. There it was, lying right on top of Sam's credit card bill. Bonnie promptly returned the memo to Charlie and reminded Sam that if he didn't pay the bill his debt would rise exponentially. CJ had decided a well timed wisecrack towards him would set him rolling. So, the bill got paid and the memo got forwarded and the country ran along just fine, having been almost unseated by a fairly insignificant memo.

She chuckled inwardly, grabbing a file from Donna as she passed by.

None of these factors had anything to do with the state of mind CJ was in. She should have been feeling somewhat relaxed as she didn't have any pressing matters to attend to and no loose ends to tie up. She felt quite the opposite and she couldn't exactly pinpoint the reason why. She was frazzled, and seemed even more irritable than she had been last week, when Josh had succeeded in knocking Gail's fishbowl to the floor, nearly sending Gail to her fishy demise. Luckily, CJ had prepared for that particular scenario; she rushed from behind her desk, plunking Gail back into her bowl, while at the same time pouring distilled water over her. After three days of Josh sending both CJ and Gail gifts of all sorts (including flowers and candy which could not be enjoyed by a fish), he was still on her shit list.

Her mind drifted quickly into dangerous water. She thought quickly about Danny, but banished him from her mind. She would think of him at the most inopportune and random times. She would wake up and be in the middle of making coffee and think that Danny takes his with cream and two sugars. On the drive to work, hear Billy Joel, and be reminded that he had once invited her to a concert with him.

CJ requested a file from Carol and walked into her office. She let out a heavy sigh, shut the door and leaned against it. Her eyes stung and her stomach grumbled. It occurred to her only then that she had not eaten lunch that day, and she would not allow herself to begin skipping meals again. She toyed with calling up Josh and guilt tripping him into buying herself, as well as the bullpen, dinner. She decided against it, figuring that she had put the poor boy through enough that week.

She sighed again and slowly pushed herself away from the hard mahogany. She toyed with the idea of skipping out early, but once again, attesting to her determined nature, decided to stay until Leo left. Debating on whether or not to read the file on her couch or in her chair, she picked up a stress ball and absent mindedly tossed it from hand to hand. Her stance was loose, but she felt tightly wound, like there was something she was supposed to be doing, but it was somehow evading her.

A quiet knock on the door broke her out of her reverie and she sent the stress ball flying into her television. CJ paused, cringed slightly, and looked over towards the TV. Suddenly, she felt extremely fatigued and wondered if her earlier decision not to leave was not for the worse. Belatedly, she opened her door, just as the person was about to knock again.

"Did I interrupt mother/daughter time?" Danny asked, leaning against the doorframe. He quirked an eyebrow, smiled through his beard. If she had allowed herself to think about it, she would have deemed it endearing.

"Sadly no, Gail has been somewhat detached since the attempt on her life." CJ moved back, signaling for Danny to enter. He did, but waited until she seated herself to begin speaking. She flopped back on the couch and covered her eyes with her hands. He smiled, looking away, willing himself not to make a smart ass comment.

Danny felt uncomfortable for a moment, as neither one of them was speaking. There was much that he wanted to say, but as usual, he decided that the time was not right. The time never seemed to be right for the two of them. The lamp from the end table shed soft yellow light over her hair and made it glow slightly. His smile grew, and he breathed in the comfort and amazement of the quiet moment. He enjoyed it when it was quiet, when he could just look at her and ask himself 'what if'; ask himself what she would do if he just sat down and kissed her. Ask himself what would happen if she would just allow him to love her.

His thoughts were cut off when she spoke. "What did you need Danny?" She asked, sounding much more exasperated than she had meant to. His face fell just a bit, but he decided to pick up the ball and go with it. Danny Concanon was nothing if not determined.

"I came to exercise my visitation rights." He said, turning and swirling his index finger in the fish bowl. Gail swam playfully around it, and his smile bordered on a grin. "And she seems fine to me CJ, maybe she's just daddy's little girl."

CJ's lethargy slipped away as she kicked into 'banter mood.' She straightened her posture and glared pointedly at Danny. "Seems daddy is late with some of his child support checks." She threw back at him. She then realized that she had left a verbal opening for him to weasel himself through. Silently, she cursed herself.

"How much does it cost to take care of a goldfish? Are you an unfit mother looking to weasel me out of my money? I see how it is, take my check, which I work very hard to end by the way, and go out and get your nails done. That's how it goes right?" He asked, standing up and walking over to where she was seated. His eyebrow quirked again prompting her to answer, and he crossed his arms over his chest to make himself seem more serious.

They were at an impasse. Staring at one another, their playful toned slipped gradually away and they were left to simmer in the tension that followed them wherever they went.

"What if I asked you to throw caution to the wind?" Danny asked, tilted his head up as he usually did when he asked a question, and seated himself next to her. She threw her hand over her eyes once more. Deftly, she tried to avoid another conversation that she knew was just going to occur anyway.

"What if you did?" She shot back, her voice teetering on the edge of annoyance, or at least that was how she wanted it to seem.

"Throw caution to the wind." Danny requested, his eyes settling on her face. She could feel the heat of his gaze but refused to uncover her eyes. Eye contact was not what she wanted. She knew if she looked at him, some of her resolve would slip and she might give into him. "And don't cover your eyes CJ. If you cover your eyes it means you might be rolling them, and then however would I know if you were being sarcastic?"

His voice, more soothing now, had a hint of amusement in it. He gripped her arm and pulled it down from her face, placing it in her lap.

She did not smile, but tipped her head and examined him for a moment.

"Danny, I just finished briefing, I have to look over this file-" She picked it up and waved it in front of his face just to make sure that he didn't think that she was making excuses. He grabbed it out of her hand and placed it down on the end table. "And it's Friday." She finished quietly, having not anticipated him touching her. CJ was unable to control her lips, which quirked up involuntarily.

Suddenly, he leaned in and kissed her, softly, gently. She recalled the last time she had kissed him, over a year ago, and remembered the familiar flutter of butterflies in her stomach. Resisting the urge to bring her hands into his hair in order to urge him on, she sat up a bit, successfully ending the kiss. Fighting the urge to kiss her again, he settled for running his fingers through her hair. Leaning into his touch, she quickly decided that three years of fighting her instincts was not conducive to her mental health, and that letting up on her strict regulations might do her some good. It would most certainly bear well for her blood pressure.

So, she smiled, which caused him to smile, and they sat there for a time, just smiling at one another, not really thinking about the past or the future, just enjoying silence that surrounded them.

"Oh, don't think I didn't notice when your stomach rumbled there." Danny stood up, and moved back from her a bit. "We're gonna go grab something to eat, and you're going to like it."

Habit tripped her up a bit. "I can't, I have to read this-"

"We'll just go and get something to eat, have a 'business dinner', and then you can come back and work yourself silly. Besides, we don't want Gail to think we have a strained relationship, do we?" He joked.

CJ thought for a moment, looked from the file to Danny and back to the file.

"I'll give you an hour of my time." She said, rising from the couch and grabbing her overcoat. Danny smiled and followed her out of her office.

"I can make a lot of progress in an hour." He muttered under his breath, just loud enough so that Josh, who was passing by, could hear. Josh grinned and sneakily, gave Danny a high five.


End file.
